Sympathy for the Devil
by Faia Saiyajin
Summary: Updated with one DOOZY of a plot development! Kayura's gone missing, and the Ronins discover that an old friend doesn't like staying dead. This one's a doozy folks, and ya gotta read it to believe it! PLEAAAAASE R&R!
1. Prolouge: A Transient Smile

title: Sympathy for the Devil  
series: Ronin Warriors  
author: Faia Saiyajin  
rating: R  
  
----------------  
Prologue: A Transient Smile   
Hello, friends. Remember me? The savage red-haired fiend who fought the 5 teenage brats time and again? The one who lead the Dark Warlords on an unsuccessful campaign to conquer the mortal world? The quiet pupil of the Ancient, who sacrificed his life to free a Lady from Talpa's control?  
  
Yes. I see you recall now. I am Anubis. I have returned from the realm of the dead. Only I am not here to guide, to help. I am here to kill.   
  
You seem surprised, and that is understandable. I have broken my bonds with Talpa, therefore I should be the sweetest human being, dead or alive, correct?   
  
Wrong. Once again, I have given myself over to the darkness. Only this is an evil greater than Talpa. This is wretchedness, hatred, and torment in its purest form. I suppose you could call it Satan. The Dark Prince, Lucifer, whatever your fancy. But I am now employed in his services. His flame-haired Hell Hound. You are always a slave to something, you see.  
  
Yet to be something so dark, so malignant, I must sound rather sane. Well, dearest ones, I am sane. And quite happy with the path I have chosen, mind you. I am the perfect killer. I have no regrets, no remorse, for what I am about to do. I am evil, make no mistake about that. The Gentleman's Evil, if you will. I have not changed in the least.   
  
Physically, anyways.   
  
I am still the same Anubis. Supple golden skin, hair like a wave of red silk. And of course, my green eyes. My eyes were always my favorite feature. Blue-green, like the ocean before a storm. I am quick to smile, as always, be it in genuine happiness, or in a fit of manic rage. I am strong, oh yes. Unbelievably so. But without my true power, my Ogre Armor, I am still no match for the five self-righteous urchins and their oversized housecat. So I believe we should start our tale at that point. And you are fortunate enough to bear witness to my greatness. Do not fear me. You are not the ones I am here to erase. You are all innocent bystanders, I swear it.  
  
But every now and then, a strange madness tries to wrap me in its embrace, a whirlwind of violence and depravity. So I cannot put too much stock in my promises. Just to be safe, I wouldn't sleep with my window open tonight, if I were you. I wouldn't open it ever again. 


	2. Chapter I: A Visitor of Sorts

Chapter I: A Visitor of Sorts  
"Ryo, Ryo, Ryo..." Sage chided. "You ass. I told you--"  
  
"Knock it off, Sage." Rowen interrupted. "Leave him be."  
  
Sage scowled, and closed his mouth. Ryo Sanada lay in the hospital bed, bandaged from what seemed like head to toe. He found himself a temporary resident of Toyama General Hospital, with a broken arm, several cracked ribs, and various other minor traumas. Kento had been out with him, early this morning, riding recklessly through the small woods near Mia's mansion on dirtbikes, Wildfire and Hardrock's new passion.  
  
"But it is rather amusing.." Cye said from one of the four chairs drug into room number 618. A boyish giggle escaped him, his glass-green eyes sparkling with mischief. "All of this over a squirrel."  
  
A muffled laugh rippled through those assembled. Ryo craned his neck as far as he could, glaring at Cye for even mentioning it.  
  
Rowen was the only one who was relatively upset over the whole ordeal. The others found it to be genuinely amusing. Ryo had swerved out of the way of the small rodent when it suddenly darted into his path. That's what led to his wondrous skid through the tangled underbrush, the swordsman now wrapped around the bike in an odd way. He had checked into Toyama General at around 2. Three hours had passed, and Ryo, unfortunately, was being kept overnight, just for safety's sake.  
  
"You shoulda just ran over the thing. Idiot." Kento muttered, slumping lower in his chair. "Then we wouldn't be here."  
  
Kento hated hospitals. Despised them. The way they smelled, the way they looked... even the wallpaper trim of poorly imitated Renaissance-style fruit made him sick to his stomach.  
  
Strata shot him a look. "You don't have ta' be here, you know."  
  
That hurt Kento more than the arms of the chair, which were currently digging into his ass like there was no tomorrow. He'd gladly throw up his life in order to save one of his friends. He'd do it to save all of them... but this was pushing it.  
  
"Maybe you guys had better leave." The voice from the bed whispered hesitantly. "I mean.. I'm kinda tired."  
  
The four assembled exchanged bewildered glances. Sage, leaning against the wall, at the foot of Ryo's bed, nodded knowingly. That was Ryo for you. He didn't like to make others worry over him. Causing people pain or sorrow was number one on Ryo Sanada's Top Ten List of Things That He Hated. Number two was beef ramen.  
  
"You sure...?" Rowen asked, putting his book down. He shoved his wire-framed reading glasses up to his forehead, looking at the prostrate figure on the bed. Of the other four Ronin Warriors, Rowen Hashiba could say without thinking that Ryo was his best friend. He loved the guys like brothers, of course, but Ryo.. During the battle with Talpa, a time had come when it had been just he and Ryo against the Dynasty's minions. A bond was forged then, a bond that transcended the unbreakable link that was the five Ronin Armors.  
  
"Yeah.. I'm fine, Ro'. I just need a little rest, okay?" Ryo murmured, staring at the paneled ceiling. "They're letting me out tomorrow, right?"  
  
"First thing." Cye chirped.  
  
"Good."  
  
"I'll say. Kayura and the other Warlords are coming down for a luncheon." Cye then smiled rather proudly. "Provided by yours truly, of course."  
  
"Great.. you mean I get the job of keeping Lard Butt over here out of the kitchen?" Sage grumbled, eliciting various grins and snickers from his companions at Kento's expense. But it was an ages-old gag, and Kento didn't mind anymore.  
  
Kento instead, threatened with his fist, if only in jest. "Bring it on, Snow Queen."  
  
Another small fit of laughter erupted, as Sage returned the playful threat with a glare of his violet eye.  
  
"Well... if we're going, let's get moving. Mia's probably worried sick." Cye said, prying himself from the snug chair. Mia was at home with Yuli, who had come over for a sleepover, to see Kayura.  
  
"Yeah.." Kento grunted, having to put more effort into standing. "Gah... wedgie.." he muttered, scratching unashamedly at his duff. Sage shook his head.  
  
"If you ever had manners, Kento.. I think it'd kill me."  
  
"Yeah.. if I didn't kill you first." Came the retort.   
  
"You two argue like an old married couple." Rowen grinned, standing at Ryo's bedside. "Well buddy..." He patted Ryo's shoulder lightly. "We'll come to collect you tomorrow morning."  
  
"Yay."  
  
  
"Don't sound so enthused, now." Sage grinned, fluffing Ryo's thick hair.  
  
"I can barely contain myself, man." Ryo chuckled. His four friends smiled, and turned to leave. "Catch ya's later."  
  
Cye and Kento waved, followed by Sage. Rowen, turning to nod and smile his goodbye, nearly walked into the door.   
  
Ryo rolled with laughter, as Rowen's abrupt stop caused him to loose his book, his glasses, and most of his composure.   
  
"Watch out for the door, there, Rowen." Ryo bit his lip to keep from laughing, which caused his aching ribs a good deal of pain.  
  
"Right." Rowen said, bending to pick up his things. "Sleep tight, bud." He switched off the blinding halogen lights above, before closing the door behind him.  
  
"Gotcha."  
  
"Ugh... this sucks." He snorted in disgust, drawing the thin sheet up around his shoulders. An arm slid out, flicking off the bedside light.  
  
The street lights cast a dim glow on everything. Ryo sighed. Great. Rain. It was 7 o'clock... it had been dark for nearly an hour, and the sound of rain beginning to patter against his window didn't help his mood any.   
  
Ryo narrowed his eyes, trying to remember the event that had landed him in this great place. Was it a squirrel? *Something* had come infront of his bike, yeah, that was true... but was it...? Wildfire tried to think. But he was tired. The whole ordeal was exhausting. "I'll think about it later.." he mumbled. He tried to roll over as far as he could to his left side. Fortunately for him, all his problem areas were on the right. It hurt only a moment, but Ryo would never get any sleep, sprawled flat on his back.   
  
His eyes were heavy, and he couldn't fight it any longer. "Goodnight.." He yawned to no one in particular, and let sleep take him. 


	3. Chapter II: The Early Bird Gets the Guar...

Chapter II: The Early Bird Gets the Guardian  
The rain continued on through the night, a downpour that was bordering on torrential. Mia's lake was slowly filling over, the pier already awash. The sun wasn't to be seen that morning, when Sage awoke at 5 am.   
  
He stood at his bedroom window, arms crossed over his chest. There was a slight draft leaking in through the window, making Sage shiver in his flannel pants and white T-shirt. "If it keeps up like this..." Sage began.  
  
"We'll get flooded out."  
  
Sage spun on his heel, singular eye darting around the room. "Who's there?" He demanded. A low, familiar chuckle sounded from the far corner of his bedroom. Sage recognized it immediately. "Bah... Cale."  
  
The former Warlord of Corruption smiled from his shadowy corner. "As if it would be anyone else?" Cale was nestled in the corner, his arms crossed over his chest loosely.  
  
"You're the only Shadow Rat I know." Sage taunted. "What in the name of Bhudda are you doing here?" Out of habit, he checked the bedside clock.  
  
"I know that we aren't supposed to be here for another several hours. But it is important." Cale's words were grave.  
  
"And how long were you planning on slinking around in the shadows before you decided to speak up?"  
  
Cale shrugged.  
  
"What's so important that you--"  
  
A loud scream tore through the hallway, coming from Kento's room. Sage rolled his eyes. "And Dais..."  
  
"BLOODY HELL!!" A groggy Cye yelped from two doors down.  
  
"And Sekhmet.." Sage groaned. "Lovely. The whole crowd is here..." He muttered under his breath. "What's so important that all of you are here so damned early?"  
  
"Kayura's gone."   
  
The reply was simultaneous.  
  
"WHAT?!?!"  
  
  
The four Ronins were downstairs in a flash. Mia was wide awake, scurrying around the kitchen, making tea and something substantial for Kento. Those assembled sat at the table, the three Warlords on one side, the Ronins on the other. Rowen was on his feet, surprisingly very awake, given the current hour.  
  
"Strata. Sit. Down." Dais said, accenting every word. The archer had been pacing the room, making Dais rather dizzy.  
  
"I CAN'T." His palms slammed down on the table, china and silverware jumping nearly as high as the people. "Kayura's been abducted, and you're telling me to sit down? What are we sitting around for?"  
  
Kento looked over at Cye. "Uh... is it just me, or has Rowen lost it?"  
  
"He never had it. He's been fooling us all along. ...Rowen, you're thinking irrationally. We need a plan." Cye watched the blue eyebrows knit together. Perhaps it was the surroundings that was making him so jumpy. "I'm surprised that you're the one up and shooting off like a bloody lunatic." Cye's voice lost its soft English accent for the briefest of moments. It was a hard commanding tone. "Calm down." Torrent was just as worried over Kayura's disappearance as anyone, but it would be impossible to get anything accomplished with the so-called brains of the outfit running around like he was daft.  
  
"Cale... did Kayura's abductors take the staff as well?" Mia asked, as she poured tea for Sage.   
  
Cale nodded his head gently. "Yes."  
  
"That means whoever has taken her knows of the powers it possesses." Cye murmured, looking at his reflection in his cup.  
  
"But what about Kayura? What purpose does she serve?" Rowen asked, sitting down finally.  
  
"Hostage." Sekhmet said quietly.  
  
This made the hairs on the back of Rowen's neck stand on end. Cye shivered delicately out of the corner of his eye. "Then they're after something bigger."  
  
"Our Armor." Sage murmured, taking a small sip of the steaming beverage.  
  
"Probably." Dais nodded. He glanced up at Mia, who was moving around the table. "None for me, thanks." the Spider whispered, raising a pale hand. Mia moved on, pouring Cale his tea. Sekhmet also declined. Kento was munching contentedly on a muffin, working on his third glass of chocolate milk.  
  
"There is... something else." Dais said, his lips pursing together for a moment.  
  
"What?" Sage's brow furrowed.  
  
"They have the Ogre Armor as well."  
  
Kento nearly choked. "What?!"  
  
"Yes. Anubis' Armor sphere was missing from Kayura's study."  
  
"Wondrous." Rowen flopped down in his chair, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger. "So it's affirmative that they're after our Armor, already have one, and using Kayura and possibly the staff as ransom?"  
  
"Your friend Ryo may be in danger as well." Dais shrugged off-handedly.  
  
Sage's head whipped to the left. It was still raining bus-loads outside. There'd be no way to get to Ryo, unless Armor-power was involved. "How do you know?"  
  
"There is some darkness approaching us. I saw it last night in my sleep." Cale scowled. He stood abruptly, leaning hard on the table. "It was my own neglect that caused Kayura's kidnapping. I knew something was going to happen to her." Cale's head dropped in shame. "And I let it."  
  
Kento looked to his counterpart, puzzled at Cale's reaction. Dais raised a slender eyebrow, his remaining eye twinkling in a way to indicate an affair d'amour between the reformed Demon General and the descendant of the Ancient's clan. Kento's look was memorable, his blue eyes wide in shock. Cye bowed his head to hide his small smile.  
  
"It's not your fault, Cale. The fault rests with all of us." Sekhmet murmured under his breath. "We are her protectors, and yet she has been taken captive, right out from under our noses."  
  
"The fact still remains," Came the quiet reply from Dais, "That she is still missing. No matter whose fault it may be, we must find her. Quickly."  
  
Rowen and Sage exchanged pained looks. Where to start? The Dynasty was the best place, obviously, to search for clues. But nothing could be done without their leader present.  
  
"Cye, Sekhmet." Rowen's words were hard and determined. "You two go and get Ryo. If it comes down to a battle, odds are we'll need the Inferno."  
  
Cye and his counterpart stood, nodding at each other. "By water?" Cye asked quietly.  
  
"Yes. It will be much faster." Venom nodded. Robes and pajamas were replaced by the Venom and Torrent Armor, respectively.  
  
"When you get him out, meet us at the Nether Realm." Rowen said as the pair clunked to the front door, and opened it, letting in a rush of cold damp air, and the roar of the rains outside.  
  
"Right. Be careful." Cye warned, looking at Strata over his left shoulder.  
  
"You too. We don't know if Ryo's part of a trap."  
  
  
  
Torrent and Venom swam as fast as they could, through one of the underground streams that fed from Mia's lake into the aquifer underneath Toyama. Torrent glanced only once at his companion, the orange visor on his faceplate serving to clarify and somewhat illuminate the pitch black world. Sekhmet's eyes were narrow and determined from behind his serpentine face guard, as he put all his effort into swimming.  
  
Suddenly, Sekhmet stopped, his hands to his head. "What is it?" Cye nearly yelled, holding firm to Venom. The current here was strong, and if one of them didn't keep fighting it, they'd be swept backwards.   
  
"Evil. Close to Wildfire. We may be too late."  
  
Cye's eyes went wide, and they locked with Sekhmet's, horror smashing whatever hope he had left. "We can't give up. Ryo needs us." Cye's strength doubled, the need to help his friend giving him a powerful adrenaline rush.  
  
"Just pray that Ryo is strong enough to fend for himself." 


	4. Chapter III: Evil Rears its NotSoUgly He...

Chapter III: Evil Rears Its Not-So-Ugly Head  
Ryo was groggy, but awake. He hadn't gotten much sleep last night. Every time he had gotten remotely comfortable, one of his injuries protested, and he had to move. Combined with that, and the strange dreams he had been having, sleep didn't come easy to our beloved Wildfire.  
  
The lights were off, but someone was home, and it was all Ryo could do not to scream in the silence. Just the thunderous sound of rain against the glass, and his own noisy breathing. That was it. No nurses, no voices in the hall, no cars on the streets below, nothing.  
  
It was unnerving.  
  
It was only 9 o'clock, and he reckoned that he'd be here until 11 or so, because rainy days and Rowen equaled a noontime wakeup. "Wonderful." He groaned, and licked his lips. Instantly he made a face. Combined with his empty, sour stomach, and killer morning breath, it felt like his tongue had grown fur. Either that or there was a small fuzzy mammal corpse in his throat. "I'd kill for a toothbrush... but water will have to cut it for now.." He rolled his head to the side, to reach for the usual bedside glass of water. He nearly jumped when he saw someone standing to the immediate left of the table. When had that nurse come in? He stood at the window, watching the rain smash against the thick window pane. "Sheesh. You scared the hell out of me." He muttered, snatching the glass from the table and downing the stale water in one gulp.   
  
The nurse at the window didn't reply. Ryo, after a loud burp, watched the man. In the gray light it was hard to tell who it was. It was odd, because the moment he had gotten out of X-ray, all the female nurses in the building seemed to be stationed on his floor. "Hey, man.. when do I get out of here?" He asked, looking at the plastic cup in his hands, as if he were wishing it to fill back up.  
  
No response.  
  
"Uh... helllooo?"  
  
The nurse drew upwards, taking a deep breath. Ryo was getting suspicious. If this was a nurse, why wasn't he busy doing nurse-stuff?  
  
"Do you know fear, Ryo of the Wildfire?"  
  
"What?" Ryo was too alarmed to think of an adequate response. "Who are you?" That was Ryo for you. Ask questions first, get your ass kicked next. Ryo didn't have time to cry out as the nurse from hell lunged for him, wrapping a hand like a vice around his throat.  
  
Ryo was jerked forward, his body screaming in agony as it was drug mercilessly out of bed. Then the room spun like a roulette wheel, thoroughly disorienting him. A deafening explosion of shattering glass nearly made Ryo drop a load in his shorts as he was rammed, back first, through the window.  
  
The initial warm wetness of the blood on his back was replaced by an icy sting as he was drenched by the downpour. Ryo tore at the hand around his throat. A foolish idea, given the fact that even if he did break his captor's hold, there was no where to go but down. Down 5 stories, to be turned into Ryo-Pizza, heavy on the sauce.  
  
"I said." Every word was forced through the man's teeth, as Ryo went still, holding for all he was worth onto his life/death line. "Do you know fear, Wildfire?" Ryo squinted his eyes, trying to see through the broken window.  
  
"N-Not from scumbags like you, pal." Wrong answer. Ryo's voice seemed to gargle in his throat, as the hand tightened its grip around his windpipe.  
  
"You should, Wildfire. And you will. "You will know fear, when you see what I am capable of. You will quake with fear, just like Kayura did."  
  
If Ryo's eyes had gotten any wider, they should have dropped out of his head. 'Quake with fear'? When the man from beyond the window said that, Ryo recognized his hissing voice. "Anubis?!"  
  
Anubis ignored him, and finished his threat. He thrust his head from the broken window, his snarled and matted hair plastered to his face as he was soaked. The smell of damp earth and rot rose from him, and surrounded him like a blanket. It was if he had just risen from the grave. Indeed, his arms and most of his face were still slathered with mud. But he still had that same piercing glare, his bloodshot green eyes full of hatred and malice. "And then you will die, ...just like Kayura did." 


	5. Chapter IV: Water Water Everywhere

Chapter IV: Water Water Everywhere  
"There!" Cye pointed out the surface of a pool above them. Probably the city's water treatment plant. If not, then it was the pond located in the park.   
  
"Yes." The pair kicked harder, propelling themselves upwards, the water becoming rapidly lighter.   
  
With two loud gasps for air, Cye and Sekhmet broke the surface, bobbling on the water. The dozen men around them nearly died of several heart attacks.  
  
Venom and Torrent had come up in Toyama Water, Inc., the workers there sufficiently freaked out enough to let the two Armored monstrosities climb out of the water, and out the door into the streets without so much as a word.  
  
Now on the seemingly empty streets of Toyama, Cye got his bearings. "Let's see.. we're on 45th street... the hospital..." Cye pointed west. "Is over there."  
  
"We'll go by roof. Much less conspicuous." Sekhmet added, and the two launched themselves into the air, bounding off the sides of buildings, until they rested safely on the top of the water plant. "Come on." He nodded, and the pair took off like a gunshot, racing over the rain-slicked rooftops of the city.   
  
Toyama General loomed in, Sekhmet stumbling only once. "It's here. And it's with Ryo." His hands shot out, pulling free two of his tachi blades. Cye held his yari at the ready, as they came to a halt on the roof of a business firm, across the street from the hospital. They were level with at least the 10th floor. "Ye gods. There!" Sekhmet pointed with his right sword.  
  
"Bloody hell!" Cye swore, seeing the figure dangled out the window, almost directly below them. "Ryo.. please be okay..." He was nearly mowed over as Sekhmet suddenly tore past him, leaping off the building, and plummeting to the ground below.   
  
He had cleared the street, falling close to the building. Eight stories... 7...6... NOW!! His swords shot out, as he plunged them into the side of the building, coming to a screeching halt, three feet below Ryo. His arms went aflame with pain at his sudden stop. "Wildfire!"  
  
"N-Nice of you to join me, bud."  
  
"Yes, Sekhmet, very nice of you to join us. I was about to teach this insolent whelp the meaning of fear."  
  
Sekhmet craned his neck up as far as he could, his faceplate splitting down the center as his helmet vanished. He squinted in the rain, trying to make out the face. He smiled down at him, and Sekhmet's eyes went wide. "Anubis!!"  
  
"You don't seem happy to see me, Sekhmet. What's the matter?" Anubis' hateful smile widened.  
  
"You're... alive?"  
  
"In a matter of speaking, yes."  
  
Sekhmet was baffled. Why was the supposedly deceased Anubis alive, and so evil? Then it clicked. "...YOU!"  
  
"It finally makes sense now, doesn't it, Serpent?"  
  
"You're the one who kidnapped Kayura!!"  
  
"Erg... could.. could we save the accusations for later ...AND GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE?!?!" Ryo cut in, beating on the powerful arm with his last remaining strength.  
  
Just then...  
  
"LOOK OUT BELOOWWWW!!"  
  
An aqua streak dropped from the sky. There was a flash of silver, a howl of pain, a gush of blood, and Ryo was falling.  
  
Cye dropped in, just in the knick of time, and had cut off Anubis' arm, thus causing Ryo to fall. But Cye's hand had shot out, and grabbed his superior by the arm, and held fast to the window sill. Anubis was howling with rage and pain, lurching back from the window, holding the stump of his right arm. "I gotcha, Ryo!"  
  
"Heh.. good of ya to drop in."  
  
"Well.. they say better late than never.." Cye flashed a smile. But it wasn't over yet. A gore-covered skeletal hand suddenly appeared from the window, locking around Cye's wrist. "Oh.. dear.." Cye turned his gaze upwards to see Anubis, his eyes wide with hate, and his nostrils flared, as he used all his undead power to regenerate his missing arm. The muscles and sinews wound themselves down over the bare bone, the skin knitting back together slowly, some of the raw tissue still visible through gaps in the flesh.   
  
"...time... to ...die.."  
  
"NO!" Sekhmet howled suddenly. He switched to an overhand grip, kicking his legs out from under him. His momentum was sufficient enough that he was able to flip himself over, and through the window, a pair of feet meeting solidly with Anubis' face. Anubis staggered back into the room, Sekhmet perched on the windowsill, his swords held out, ready to strike. "Get Wildfire out of here. I'll take care of this pest..." he hissed through bared teeth. He felt around for Cye's hand, and in one heave, lifted both Cye and Ryo upwards, until the three of them were safe and sound on the floor. "Go, NOW!" He roared, shoving Cye towards the door.  
  
Cye didn't have time to protest, as the Warlord lunged for Anubis. "I'll catch up, Torrent. Just get Wildfire out of here!!" He snarled, as he and Anubis locked arms. Cye disappeared out the door and into the hall. His escape was unhindered by Anubis nor hospital staff. Anubis was being dealt with by Sekhmet... so where was everyone else? He rounded the corner, carrying Ryo on his back, running like there was no tomorrow. He then knew why he hadn't been stopped.  
  
They were all dead. Or asleep. But probably dead.   
  
Orderlies and patients alike were sprawled on the ground, unmoving. Nurses and doctors lay where they had fallen, clipboards and instruments scattered in the hallways. Cye closed his mind from the horror, focusing all his emotion into running. The elevator lay ahead, but Cye veered to the right, for the stairwell. He kicked the door open, clean off the hinges. Cye peered down over the landing. The railing was smooth steel, on the outer edge of the 5 flights.   
  
He backed up, out the door. Ryo, who had been semi-conscious most of the way, came to life. "Uh... Cye.. what are you doing?"  
  
Cye pressed his lips together. "Something Kento taught me." Without another word, he ran forward, and leapt, timing his jump perfectly.  
  
With the grace of the most trained skater, Cye's feet hit the railing, and he leaned forward, doing a flawless 50-50 grind down the first flight of stairs. The banister bent at a right angle twice, to lead to the second stair. The gap between the railings was several feet, and Torrent grit his teeth and jumped. His landing was right on, and he continued down, repeating his movements every time he came to a bend.   
  
His momentum lasted for three more flights, as he came to the street level exit. He dove off the rail, and hit the ground running, throwing himself out the door. He and Ryo were both plenty dizzy, and the rain washed away the sweat that poured down his brow.   
  
"N-Nice job, Cye. Kento'd be proud..." Ryo muttered, adjusting his grip on Cye's shoulderguards.  
  
"Come on, Sekhmet... I can't get into the Dynasty without you..." Cye whispered, as he continued running down the sodden streets of Toyama. His mind whirled, realizing that Anubis was not only back from the dead, but also the one responsible for Kayura's abduction.   
  
"Cye, uh.. what's going on?" Ryo groaned, as his sore and beaten body was jostled and moved.   
  
"I don't know, Ryo. I honestly don't know." 


	6. Chapter V: The Ragged They Come, The Rag...

Chapter V: The Ragged they Come, The Ragged they Kill   
Upstairs, on the fifth floor, Sekhmet was fighting for all he was worth. He had long ago lost the two unsheathed swords, reduced to a bloody fist fight. Anubis had broken his hold easily, the Ogre the most physically strong of the four Warlords. Sekhmet was only second to his strength, but an angry snake is a deadly snake. Faces were smeared with blood, as punches were taken full force.   
  
"What's the matter, Venom? Getting tired?" Anubis cackled, as he tangled his fingers in Sekhmet's wiry green hair.   
  
Sekhmet couldn't reply, as Anubis' neck snapped forward, his forehead crushing against Sekhmet's. He staggered backwards, dazed. A fist buried in his gut, causing him to double over in pain.   
  
"You are no match for me." Anubis grinned, his lips close to Sekhmet's ear. "Why don't you just give up? I'll kill you painlessly."  
  
"Like hell!!" Sekhmet spat, his words accented with a spray of blood. Anubis threw him against the far wall, leaving a Sekhmet-shaped dent in the plaster. Hands were locked around the small bit of exposed neck, slowly crushing in his windpipe.   
  
Sekhmet fought for air, his beady eyes searching over Anubis' face. His right hand fumbled for one of his four remaining swords, and finally found one, wrapping his blood-soaked fingers around the grip.  
  
"As the mortals say..." He grunted, unsheathing the blade. Anubis looked confused for a moment. "FUCK OFF!!" He braced the dull edge of the steel against the palm of his left hand, and with all the strength he could muster, shoved upwards.   
  
Anubis staggered back, his arms cut from his body at the mid-forearm. Sekhmet leered at the undead bastard, who was too concerned with the loss of his appendages to realize that the swordsman was about to go in for the kill.   
  
Pulling away from the wall, Sekhmet reared back on one foot, nimbly twisting the tachi blade in his hands, so that he was holding it like a spear. He howled, before launching the sword at Anubis, who was busy regenerating his arms.   
  
"Urk..." Anubis' body hitched violently as the blade embedded itself square in his stomach, impaling him fully. Sekhmet followed his sword, his fists meeting with the soft flesh of Anubis' face.   
  
It was working. He was pushing him backwards. Towards the window. While he laid blows on Anubis with his left, his right was tightened around the cold grip of another tachi. "Say goodnight." He grunted one final time, his left hand freeing the sword from Anubis' gut. There was a flash, and his other arm shot out, thrusting the sword deep into his chest.   
  
The stunned, pained look on Anubis' face was one of sheer horror, as the sword went true, piercing his shriveled husk of a heart. Sekhmet hissed, as Anubis slumped against the windowsill.   
  
He twisted his wrist, slowly, as he withdrew the blade from Anubis' chest. At the same time, he was pushing on Anubis, leaning him ever closer to the hole in the window.  
  
"Sekhmet.." The whisper was a wet slurp, blood flowing freely from Anubis' mouth.  
  
His cold serpentine eyes roamed the bloodied yet still malicious face of what had been Anubis. There was no remnant of the former Warlord and Chosen One there, there was only this... this thing.. twisted by the Dark Forces, made into an undead mercenary. He couldn't reply. He didn't know what to say. So instead he hardened his features into a snarling, vengeful mask, something that the reborn Ogre should be fearful of. If this was the path his soul had taken, so be it. Sekhmet would show no mercy. There was no regret in his heart, nor did his snarl falter, as he gave one final push, ejecting Anubis from the window, while dislodging his sword from Anubis with one hard twist.  
  
There was no scream. Nothing. Sekhmet could not bear to look down, to watch the body of his former ally drop like a stone. He sheathed the four tachi blades he had used, after cleaning the tainted blood from them with the bedclothes. Before he left, Sekhmet looked at the gray smear of clouds, and the solid wall of rain. It seemed like a painting... some depressive artist's final work. That couldn't be the real city out there. Outside was merely a runny, monochrome watercolor painting, not a battle with a resurrected soul he had once called a friend. At least Sekhmet would have liked to think so.  
  
"You'll be back. I know it, Anubis. You'll return, and you will see just who you are dealing with." 


	7. Chapter VI: Evil Undead Warrior Kidnaps ...

Chapter VI: Evil Undead Warrior Kidnaps Woman in Bid for Revenge, Film at 11  
Sekhmet found Cye, four blocks away from the hospital. The Ronin pair was in a narrow alley between two skyscrapers, on the outskirts of the business district. There, slumped against a blue dumpster, Cye had been trying to bandage the nasty gashes on Ryo's back. The cast on his arm had cracked, and grown soggy in the rain. Ryo was fading in and out of consciousness, and Cye's green eyes were troubled.  
  
Torrent nearly jumped when he saw his counterpart, a black shadow at the end of the alley. "Is he...?"  
  
"He's done, for now." Sekhmet limped into the alley, some of the blood on his face washed off by the rains. "But he will return."  
  
"He kidnapped Kayura, didn't he?"  
  
Sekhmet nodded, putting a hand against the wet brick. Ryo's breathing became labored, as he strove to speak.  
  
"Quiet, Ryo. Save your strength."  
  
"He-He said he... killed.. Kayura.." Ryo murmured, his eyes glazed over. The pain was unbearable. Why hadn't they sent Sage after him? At least the blonde could have healed his injuries. "Anubis.. he's...evil... why...?"  
  
Torrent and Venom wore matching looks of alarm and terror. "Is that true?" Sekhmet blurted. But Ryo was out of it again. "Come on." He pulled Ryo to his feet, holding the warrior tightly, but not tight enough to further annoy his injuries. "No rest for the weary." Cye snorted in disgust, as Sekhmet closed his eyes, threading his way back to the Nether Realm.   
  
When the mental link was secured, he instantly felt a voice carry through.  
  
"Sekhmet?" It was Dais. "Are you all right?"  
  
"Yes. I have Wildfire, and some bad news." Sekhmet debated over telling him here and now, and then having to repeat it to the entire group. "But wait until we arrive. Ryo was attacked, and he is in need of Halo's attention."  
  
"The Ronins are here. I will tell Sage to prepare."  
  
Dais cleared the link, allowing Sekhmet to teleport he and his two charges to what had been the Dynasty castle.  
  
  
Sekhmet carried Ryo down the corridor, Cye trailing behind him. The Ronins and Warlords were assembled in Kayura's study, talking quietly when he slid the door open. Sage leapt up the instant he laid eyes on Ryo, taking him from Sekhmet and laying him on Kayura's unfolded futon. Ryo grit his teeth, but didn't protest to the movements.  
  
The burden of the Ronin taken from him, Sekhmet nearly collapsed. He dropped to his rear end near the bookshelf, a hand to his face, as he tried not to weep. Cale was over him in an instant.  
  
"Selfless bastard. You're injured too." Cale muttered, motioning for help. Rowen appeared beside him. "Get me a basin with water, and a cloth." The archer nodded, and went off.  
  
Sekhmet could see that he was holding back his questions. They all were, until Ryo and he were taken care of. Rowen returned, and Cale took to cleaning the worse of the cuts he had sustained. A gash above his right eye, from a punch he had failed to block, refused to stop bleeding.   
  
"Here, ass. Hold this at the wound until it slows." Cale grumbled. Cale didn't like for people to know what he was thinking, but Sekhmet could read him like a book. Cale, to most people, came off gruff and inconsiderate. But underneath, there lay a kind soul.   
  
"Thank you..." Sekhmet grumbled, holding the dripping cloth to the cut above his right eye. He bowed his head, looking Cale over. Cale's eyes were hooded, his eyes dark and weary. He had been fighting his own demons, and it was evident on his tired face. Did Sekhmet have the heart to repeat what had been said to Ryo? That Kayura was dead?  
  
A wave of residual energy flowed through the spacious room, as the Halo Armor healed Ryo's injuries. Ryo groaned once, and sat up slowly. Sekhmet craned his neck around the bookshelf to see him leaning forward, a hand to his head. There were smiles of relief all around, as Sage stepped back, banishing his Armor.   
  
"Guys..." Ryo sighed, leaning heavily on his bent knees. "Something's going on." Ryo turned his gaze to Sekhmet, who looked down in near embarrassment. "Something freaky."  
  
"We... we know who kidnapped Kayura." Cye whispered, sitting beside Sage on a tatami mat.   
  
Cale jerked to life, almost dropping the water basin, and spilling out the blood-tainted water onto the reed-mat floor. He bit his tongue, however, using all his control to leave the room, empty the bowl, and return, kneeling on another mat. The 7 Armor bearers sat in a semi-circle around Ryo, who sat on his futon, against the wall. Sage and Cye were on Ryo's right, followed by Dais, Rowen sitting on the edge of the desk, the only modern piece of furniture in the room, Kento in the desk's chair, Sekhmet now infront of the bookshelf, and Cale on Ryo's left, by the door.   
  
Every member in the room held their breath. Most in anticipation, others in hesitation. Ryo looked at his hands, as they rested in his lap. His eyes burned with tears. "It.. It was Anubis."  
  
The gasps of alarm and disbelief were overwhelming. Dais' eye nearly shot out of his head, Rowen smacking his palm against his forehead hard enough to leave a red mark. Kento's eyes shut, his whole body shaking with a mix of anger and sorrow. Sage was unfailing in his arms crossed, eyes closed, head bowed display of stoicism. Sekhmet and Cye's faces showed no change of emotion.   
  
Cale, however.... well he nearly lost it. He lunged for Ryo, gripping the teen's shoulders painfully. "WHAT?! Is this true?!?!" He cried, shaking Wildfire. It took Sekhmet and Kento to pry him off their leader. The pair were poised on one knee, on either side of the distraught Warlord, holding him tightly. Cale tried to break free, but the two held firm. "It.. was...Anubis?" Cale's voice nearly broke.  
  
Ryo nodded mutely, unable to speak around the lump in his throat. He didn't have the nerve to finish the grave news.   
  
"It's not true." Dais words were harsh. "It couldn't be Anubis."  
  
"It is. I saw him with my own eyes. Sekhmet stopped him while I escaped with Ryo." Torrent whispered meekly. He didn't budge, his head bent to hide the tears that threatened to fall. "He's returned from the dead, and he wants to kill us all."  
  
"But... why..?" Cale nearly sobbed.  
  
"Perhaps he still held some sort of malice in his heart before he died." Rowen mused, speaking through his right hand, which was curled in a fist, pressed to his lips. "Although I don' see why... he was the Ancient's Pupil. I didn't think the staff would reside with someone unless their heart was pure."  
  
"Or it could be resentment at his death." Sage's voice was low, gentle. "Perhaps there was enough anger there to bloom into this loathing he feels for us."  
  
Suddenly Rowen snapped. "That explains Kayura! She was the reason for his death, right? He used his strength to free Talpa's hold from her!"  
  
"But he did it of free will, did he not?" Dais asked, looking from Strata to the rest of the group.   
  
"I don't think so." Sage said. "I think that it was his destiny to die. That was why the Ancient One chose him. He was an intermediary for the staff. He was indeed the Chosen One. Chosen to sacrifice himself, that is."   
  
Sage's words sent chills down the collective spines of those assembled. Cale seemed to go limp, Kento and Sekhmet glancing at each other, worry on their faces.   
  
"We have to find him." Ryo seemed to growl. "We have to find out where he's hiding Kayura." Cale, still slumped on the floor, now freed from Kento and Sekhmet's restraint, whispered quietly.  
  
"And we have to kill him." 


	8. Chapter VII: Home Again, Home Again

Chapter VII : Home Again, Home Again...  
  
It was lucky for him that the rain had kept a good portion of the mortals inside. What ignorant person would come out on a day like this? It was Sunday evening, and any self-respecting human would be inside, spending time with the one they love.  
  
At any rate, Anubis was counting his blessings. He'd sustained some heavy damage after his fall to the cement below. He hadn't splattered, or else he'd be in real trouble.   
  
Now forced to crawl to his haven, Anubis left more of himself behind, dragging himself forward with his arms. It would take a few more moments of regeneration until he would be able to walk.  
  
It was eight blocks. Eight long blocks to his resting place. The very spot from where he had risen, with new a new master and new orders. The cemetary in where he had been laid to rest. But that hadn't lasted long.  
  
Finally... finally he was able to stand. Now no longer forced to crawl like an animal on his belly, the former Ogre pushed himself up, unstable for a few seconds.  
  
His body was a mess. There were large rotting gaps in his flesh, where the muscle and skin had yet to close. But there was no blood as of yet.  
  
Exhausted, the scarlet-haired warrior trudged forward, soaked by the rain. Why had this happened to him? Why couldn't he just rest peacefully in the afterlife, not tormented by the past?  
  
It was because of *THEM*. Because of all of them. Every last pathetic one of them. Why had he been chosen? He was no mystic, no provider of wisdom! He was a warrior! Why had the Ancient done this to him?  
  
He had been given his destiny, without knowing what it would get him. He accepted the staff, and for the first time in his life, had felt that this what he was supposed to do. Enlighten, guide, and serve the ultimate power. But in his learnings, his constant meditation, he heard it. The hushed whispers of his fate.  
  
The whispers had become a scream when the staff refused to strike Kayura that fateful day. It was an unholy litany, stabbing his mind like a thousand white-hot dagges.  
  
'You will die, you will die, you will die, you will die, you will DIE!'  
  
That was when he knew. He knew that he was not the Ancient's Chosen One. He was just some poor fool, sucked into yet another plot. Once again, he was a pawn. He was there to hold the staff, until Kayura could be woken from Talpa's spell. When that was over, so was his life.  
  
When he had fallen into that murky river, he felt the life ebbing from him. The water was cold and uncaring, as he inhaled breath after breath. Only it wasn't air, it was water, filling his lungs, slowly drowning him, as he had not the strength to save himself.  
  
His body wasn't even cold yet, when a new voice began to whisper to him. This time, it promised him his chance for revenge. Something happened, and he agreed to this deal. It was true, he had been reborn as the Chosen One, made pure, born again. But those last moments of his life, when THEY let him die, let him drown in that brown muck, he had sealed his fate.  
  
The hatred he felt for them, for Kayura, for the very gods themselves, who had damned him to such an existence, it prevented him from eternal bliss. That was when the very root of evil itself had told him of this opportunity.  
  
Kill those who killed you. I give you this gift, fearsome warrior. Rise and take your revenge.  
  
  
This is what it had earned him. But enough of this. He stopped at the corner, the cemetary a block away. The rains had returned, only this time it was a light drizzle. It flowed into the gaps in his chest and shoulders, coursing through him. It left from a large rotting gap in each calf. By the time it had finished this journey, it was no longer clean. It was crimson, carrying away any traces of doubt or remorse with it.   
  
Staggering to the wrought iron fence that enclosed the peremiter of the cemetary, he pulled himself over it, leaving a few tags of his flesh clinging to the rough, peeling metal. Now he began the second leg of his journey. Trekking through this slop, to his grave.  
  
It seemed like another hour, as he kicked his way through the mud, to the headstone that bore his name. It was in the far right hand corner, on the eastern side of the cemetary. When he reached the disturbed resting place, the earth overturned from his violent exit, he fell to his knees, preparing for a rejuvenating sleep.  
  
That was when, at the foot of his bed, a whirlwind started, picking up clods of earth, leaves, sticks, and whatever matter it could get ahold of. Anubis froze. It was his master.  
  
The golem, now 7 feet in height, stood before him. One eye was red, the only sign of life in the figure. Anubis scuttled forward, on his right knee. His left arm was straight, pressed kuckle-first into the mud. The right arm was resting on his bent right knee.  
  
"My loyal servant." the voice came from nowhere.  
  
"Master." He kept his head bowed.  
  
"You have failed."  
  
Anubis winced. Those words still gnawed at his brain, from days gone by. "It was a mere setback, m'lord. I underestimated the Ronins."  
  
"No. It is not your fault. It is mine entirely."  
  
He looked up at the red eye of the golem, speechless. "My Leige?"  
  
"Your strength and immortality are not enough against the urchins. I was a fool to think that you could handle them alone."  
  
"Yes, m'lord." the solace of the grave was calling him, and it was hard to concentrate.  
  
"I know that you are tired. Your battle with the Serpent has taken its toll on your undead body. However, there is something I must tell you."  
  
Anubis lifted his head, focusing his eyes. Beside the golem, a strange peice of black glass hovered. "What is it you wish of me, Master?"  
  
"This is your next victim, Anubis. I have looked deep into his heart, and found that he was in love with the woman you took. Use this against him. His feelings cloud his heart." In the glass, a shaky image of Cale appeared.   
  
Anubis smiled. A blur of steel shot forward, a dagger spiking into Cale's forehead. The glass and blade shattered into a rain of mud.   
  
"I also wish to give you this. It will be yours once again." The red orb in his eye floated free of the body, the glow increasing, the crimson tinge lighting Anubis' face with its fire. "Rise up, and become the Ogre once more."  
  
The eerie grin that formed on Anubis' lips spread into a manic smile. "Thank you, my Master." 


	9. Chapter VIII: Toxic Love

Chapter 8: Toxic Love

The sharp metallic 'PING!' of rain striking metal was the only noise, as the Ronins and Warlords materialized in the middle of Toyama. Pulling off his helmet, maddened by the echo of the rain that struck his Armor, Cale scowled at the soggy city around him. "The logic of this escapes me, really. Why are we here in the first place?"

"Where better to search for a guy who's been reborn than the last place you left him?" Kento shrugged his heavy shoulders. "Especially if he's all zombiefied, like Sekhmet said he was."

"He was. He regenerated limbs before my very eyes." Venom couldn't help but shiver. Death and gore were one thing, the unnatural regrowth of arms was another. He changed the subject quickly. "Where is the grave?" Right then, he and the other Warlords were grateful they hadn't buried him in the Dynasty. Things would have been much more complicated.

Sage pointed east. "That way. At least 5 blocks or so."

"No use standin' around here, then..." Rown said sharply. It was beyond him, at this point in time. This whole ordeal was insane. Anubis being reborn, Kayura kidnapped... He stepped off the curb, and nearly lost his balance when his foot slid in something mushy. Knocking backwards into Cale, who thankfully caught him in time, Rowen couldn't help but swear. "So much for that 500 dollar fine for littering..." He kicked at the thing that had tripped him up. His anger turned to disgust when the thing that appeared to be paper stuck to his foot. "Erg!" Shaking his foot wildly, he managed to dislodge it, so that it landed with a wet 'plop!' in the small river that coursed along the curb. Rowen then got a good look at it. He blanched, staggering back. "Oh...god!"

The others, who were busy crossing the street, turned to look at him. "What?"

Rowen merely pointed. It was a long hunk of meat, torn and ragged at the edges, one side still covered in skin, the other side red and raw. It was a peice of human flesh. Cale knelt by the side of it, sniffing lightly. This made Rowen swallow, trying not to throw up. He could smell the rot on the thing, and he was standing up. Down there, it must be unbearable.

"It has the stench of the grave. And smells of Anubis. He was here, recently. Only a few hours ago." He straightened, and marched purposefully down the street. Now it would end. He'd kill the man who kidnapped Kayura, and make damn sure, that this time, he didn't come back. Inside he was icy cold, like a glacier in the form of a man.

Dais tried not to shake his head, ignoring the way the water dripped from his sodden white hair, working his way into his armor. He was already freezing thanks to the dampness from the blasted rain, and this was one Spider who hated any temperature below 60 degrees. Cale's resolve was admirable, but it seemed that the former Warlord was taking it personally, which could make the whole ordeal messy. Cale was one vindictive little mutt when he wanted to be. No one really knew how to respond to Corruption or his actions, so instead they followed behind him silently, listening to the sound of the rain on the pavement, and what they assumed would be the squelching sound of a rotten zombie skulking around.

Ryo, for once, was glad that Cale seemed to have assumed command without directly saying it. It wasn't that he was afraid, nor was he ready to give up his position as leader of the Ronins, but it seemed like, since the Warlords knew Anubis better, they had the upper hand. For a moment, Anubis appeared in Ryo's mind's eye. He had gone from the feared Warlord of Cruelty, to the Ancient's apprentice, and now to some creeptastic zombie fresh out of a video game. He could almost see Anubis' leering grin, a rictus that nearly split his decaying face, one eye bulging as the flesh that held it in place dropped away to reveal the muscle and bone beneath. He'd nearly been splattered on the sidewalk by a man who had, in the last few battles with the Dynasty, had saved his ass enough times to merit some sort of award. "This is insane.." He muttered quietly.

Kento glanced at him, Hardrock's large steel-blue eyes sympathetic and somewhat vengeful. He was most definetly feeling sorry for Anubis' predicament, having lost his final chance at peace, but as the bearer of Justice, he could only feel that the wrongs Anubis had committed earned him a major beating. "I know, man, I know. Who would have thought that this would ever happen?" His nagitana, resting against his left shoulder, shifted a bit as Kento adjusted his grip, as if he imagined that he would have to skewer a former ally with it, however reluctantly. "It's not right..." His stomach constricted with a growl, a low rumble that was barely muffled by the Armor he wore. He wasn't hungry, which was odd in and of itself, but with the knot that sat in his stomach like twenty pounds of rotten hamburger, it was giving him some fierce acid reflux. He swallowed back a rancid burp, ignoring the way it burned his sinuses. Usually the one to lighten a tense situation with humor, even Kento found it hard to find a shred of levity in the situation. There was a bit of twisted mockery in it, though. The past few nights he'd spent a mind-numbing amount of hours playing zombie-themed videogames with Rowen. And, honestly, Kento wasn't up for becoming a main character in Resident Evil or Silent Hill. He looked around at his friends. They all wore a variation of the same expression. It was like he was traveling with 8 other Sages.

They'd all borrowed Halo's 'grim determination' look, and even if their feelings inside didn't match their faces, every single man there, from Dais to Cye, looked like they were out to kick some ass and take names. In an effort to look original, Sage had doubled his patented glare, and the force of it made Sage appear to be able to bite off an end of a steel girder and spit bullets.

"For the love of..." Cye breathed suddenly, making them all stop. Cale was standing at the fence that bordered the cemetary, stock still, his head lifted to catch the faint breeze stirred up by all this blasted rain. Cye expected his nose to start quivering, like a wolfhound hot on the trail of a fox. But it was the sight before the Warlord that made Cye's throat catch. It was like someone had shoved a human through the flaking metal with inhuman strength. There were bits of tissue and skin clinging to the bars, a particularly long bloody strip swaying in grotesque silence. They gathered around Cale, trying to look past the gore, but having much difficulty in ignoring it. Cye actually turned his head away. He didn't have typical British sensitivities (war had that effect on a person), but the spectacle should have been enough to make even the most battle-hardened warrior get at least a little queasy.

Cale pulled the largest of the chunks free, the flesh sliming up his Armor-covered fingers, making a most unpleasant squish as he found himself clenching it as rage bubbled up, necrotic pulp oozing from his fist. "He's inside." Logic would have it that the best way to enter a fence would be through the gates, but Cale was never one for logic. Snapping his wrist, he sent the mashed skin flying. It splattered on the fence, clinging to the metal desperately, even as it dripped to the ground. Ignoring the gunk that was smeared on his left hand, he took hold of the fence posts, and pulled. The rusted metal protested with a squeal, but gave, the cotter pins that held the sections of fencing together snapping. Tossing away the bent metal, he didn't hesitate to use his home-made entrance. Behind him, they all filed into the semblance of a line. Somewhere, deep inside of him, Cale knew that he had to get ahold of himself. Still, he knew that he had a personal vendetta against Anubis, which gave him adequate reason to act like a prick. He'd show Anubis what it was like to face his wrath. No one kidnapped Cale's girlfriend and got away scott-free.

"Well... he shouldn't be hard to find..." Sekhmet murmured once they'd all assembled just inside the cemetary. The rain had tried in vain to erase the gouges in the mud where someone had sloshed through. There were no footprints, only long slashes, from someone who had no strength to lift his feet, and instead had pushed through the mire. They were shallow now, but Sekhmet could tell that they'd once been shin-deep. The ground was full of writhing earthworms that had come to the surface to escape from drowning in the sodden soil. Even now, he saw the feet of he and his companions slowly sinking, the added weight of their Armors making the quicksand-effect of the mud worse.

Cale was already trekking ahead, kicking spatters of mud in all directions as he kicked through. Dais, who didn't want Cale out of his sight, lest he do something insanely stupid (as he had a tendency to do when angered), followed.

"This is just disgusting," Sage growled lightly, using the fence as leverage, pulling himself along. Everyone's movements had become greatly exaggerated as they strove to push forward and keep their balance. It was a chorus of wet suction noises, as feet were pulled from the clinging mud. Soon, the various colors of Armor were decorated liberally with spots and smears of near-black.

"I'd suggest using the markers as steppin' stones... but for the sake of desecratin' the graves and tickin' off any more folks..." Rowen mused, before he got an idea. A light blue film covered him, the power of his Armor manifesting itself and making him airborne. Skimming lightly over the surface of the ground, the bottom half of the sphere flattened the mud like a sort of snowplow. Strata grinned, somewhat sheepishly, at the angered glares of those who had to keep walking. "I kin make us all fly..."

"No." Cale said firmly before Rowen even finished speaking. "Your Armor will put off too much power. And we don't want to give away our position. Especially if Anubis has any...friends."

Dais glowered at the back of Cale's head. He'd just ripped a part of the fence off, and now he wanted to be covert? "Save your energy, Rowen." Nearly tripping, he went down on his hands and knees in the mud when his foot tangled in a submerged root. Swearing loudly, no longer caring who he angered, be they dead or undead, Illusion tried to lever himself up with the nearest tombstone, leaving handprints and gobs of mud on the weathered stone. Thankfully everyone was in a bad mood, or else they'd all be laughing their fool heads off. He felt a hand secure under his right armpit, and he looked over his shoulder. Kento had sunk the blunt end of his nagitana into the ground, and braced himself on it as he hauled Dais to a standing position. There wasn't even a trace of humor on his face. "Thanks."

Kento's response was monotone. "No problem." Ahead of him, Cale, Ryo, and Rowen had come to the place where Anubis had been laid to rest. Once he was sure that Dais was steady, Kento brought up the rear as Sekhmet, Cye, Rowen, Dais and himself caught up. They clustered around the open grave, searching for any sign of their enemy.

"It looks like something out of a horror movie..." Ryo mused, and he was right. The dirt that had covered the coffin was lying around in great heaps, like a mine had gone off below it. The coffin itself was ruined, the lid splintered, jutting up from the hole, lodged into a diagonal position by bent and jammed hinges. The capper was the headstone. It was nearly pulled over, Anubis probably using that as a handhold to pull himself out. The writing was nearly illegible, handprints and mud decorating it. All of them knew the inscription by rote, though.

'Anubis - Valiant Warrior, Ally and Mentor. May His Memory Never Fade or Spoil'

It was bitter irony, now.

"He's hiding around here somewhere." Cale hissed, kneeling by the grave, his eyes cold and hard. Across the gap from him, Sage crossed his arms. With the way his green Armor was covered in brown and black gunk, he looked like he was wearing a weird sort of camoflage, which made his pale blondness all the more stark. Sage was perceptive of the moods of his allies, and it had changed from a rage-driven tenacity, to a somber, sullen one. I suppose the fact that Anubis is the enemy has finally sunk in. ...even Cale looks somewhat remorseful. It won't last, though. Or, even worse, it will add to his hatred. He'll be driven by sadness and fury, which is a dangerous and explosive combination. It could make him even more treacherous than Anubis. Dais knows that. Dais, to Halo, felt like he was pulled taut as a bowstring, the state of affairs making him nervous. He was concerned about Cale, above all things. His feelings for Kayura would be more of a hindrance than a help.

Nine bodies stiffened, Cale nearly leaping to his feet, as the clink of chains and raucous, mad laughter echoed in the humid air. "I'm glad you're all here. ...it saves me the time and effort of hunting you down one by one." They all turned to face the voice, and saw him, the one they were hunting, staring them down defiantly. Shock painted the faces of the Ronin Warriors and ex-Warlords. Anubis was in the Ogre Armor.

"By the gods... what has happened to him?" Sekhmet's jaw dropped open. The Ogre Armor had changed. It was no longer formed in the style that mirrored the design of the original 9. The helmet was still markedly the same, with the long curving horns that crowned its forehead, with the faceplate worked to look like the face of an Ogre. The colors were still the original earth-tones, and the weapon, Anubis' kusari-gama, was still the same, but that was where the similarity ended. The armor was immense and heavy, marked with spikes that looked like the teeth of a dragon or large reptile. Skulls of humans and monsters decorated the belt and legs, and the feet of the Armor were massive, looking like the feet of a giant lizard. The Ogre armor had been warped, and turned into something that Anubis could use to exact his revenge.

Seeing that they were shocked at his appearance, Anubis couldn't help but laugh again. "You all look as if you've seen a ghost." Tightening the length of chain between his hands, he swung the heavy clawed weight back and forth slowly, as if he were debating whether or not to use it. With the Hell-warped Ogre Armor, he felt rejuvenated, almost alive. Had his prey not convieniently shown up, he would have enjoyed a romp through the city. The humans would have been helpless to defend, as he tore down their buildings of concrete and steel, just as he had done under Talpa's rule. Only there was more satisfaction in destroying a modern city, in ruining the massive monuments to progress. Straw and wood hovels were like tinder, easily toppled with little effort. Although, despite that, he could do the same to these buildings, the chains and sharpened steel of his kusari-gama ripping through the supposedly indestructible skyscrapers. With this new strength he could do it with his bare hands, he was sure. But now that the Ronins and the reformed Warlords were here, he could test his strength against the mystical Armor, to see how well the disseminated body of Emperor Talpa could protect the tender mortal flesh within. It would be a refreshing change, facing them in his own Armor, not having to rely solely on his own incredible strength and the undead power he'd recieved. He barked out an evil laugh, feeling the skin stretch, relishing the feel of being whole. When he'd been granted the use of the Ogre Armor his body had reformed, the rot subsiding, the power transforming his flesh into the supple stuff of his life. "...aren't you happy to see me alive? ...well.. alive in a manner of speaking..." From behind the faceplate, his eyes changed shape, one wide and staring, the other narrowed, his pupils wide black holes, nearly consuming the sea-green of his eyes. "I suppose it was a bit cocky of me to expect a warm welcome from all of you. ...especially after our first meeting, Sanada. I see that Halo has healed your injuries. How lovely of him." Emotions swinging the other way, Anubis went from a manic glee to an insane jealous rage, focusing it on Halo. "Could you not have done the same to me?! Couldn't you have saved **MY** life? Instead you let me die without a second thought! After all I'd done for you! Without me, the lot of you would be hollow statues in Talpa's castle!"

Halo remained undaunted by Anubis' accusations. "Is that was this is about, Anubis? That you died that day? Is that why you cannot rest-" His counterpart, the darkness to his light, cut him off mid-sentence by stepping between he and Anubis. Cale crept closer to Anubis, like a wolf waiting to strike. The rain had darkened the crimson cape of the Corruption Armor, giving it the color of dried blood, and it whipped like a banner about him as the winds began to blow, directing another storm their way. His helmet hadn't yet materialized, giving Anubis an unconcealed view of the terrible expression on Cale's face, winter-white teeth bared as his lips contorted into a snarl, his eyes a mixture of rage and pain. Betrayal and hatred seemed to pour off of him like the water that dripped from between chinks in his Armor.

His tone was made harsh, accented by the growl that rumbled in his throat. "Enough of your childish nonsense, Anubis...!" Anubis remained unaffected, looking rather amused at Corruption's canine display. "Where is she?!" Anubis feigned ignorance, knowing it would infuriate Cale further. It worked wonders. "...WHERE IS KAYURA, ANUBIS?!" Sadly, Cale was walking straight into Anubis' little plot like a sheep to slaughter.

"...who?" Anubis took a deep breath, as if he were thinking, his mood swinging back. "...hmm... Kayura... where have I heard that name..." He snapped his fingers, 'remembering'. "Ah yes! **That** insufferable witch. I recall her." Cale couldn't see it, but Anubis raised a brow, his look condescending. "Does she mean something to you, Cale?" Lips curled into a devilish smile as he baited his hook. Cale fumed, nearly frothing at the mouth. Just one more push, and it would be over. "Ohh... I see. Has the dog finally found himself an owner? How touching. It seems as if she's got you by the 'leash', as it were." He cackled, swinging the claw weight idly again.

Like a dam pushed to bursting, Cale snapped, his resentment pouring from him in a chilling howl, his datchi a silvery arc as it was unsheathed. Kicking up a spray of mud and rainwater, Corruption went in for the strike, unable to restrain himself. Seven voices behind him called out to stop him, but he paid them no mind. They may have felt responsible for Kayura's abduction, felt the urge to rescue her, but none could compare to what he felt. She was the one who'd soothed his wounds, helped him cope with the life of freedom he'd had before him. When his entire foundation had crumbled like dust, she had somehow managed to support him. When they'd buried Anubis, she'd listened with a sympathetic ear while he mourned. He'd cried until there was nothing wet left in him. He and Anubis had been closest in age, and despite the cruelty they'd inflicted on him during his time as the Warlord leader, Anubis had earned Cale's begrudging respect. Anubis was always an annoying little upstart, and it had infuriated he and the others to no end that the red-haired whelp had been promoted to leader the moment he put his foot in the door. He'd managed to prove himself, though, and with the arrival of the Ronins and Anubis' first resounding defeat, Cale had leapt on the opportunity to rub it in his face. Yet they'd all fail, blaming one another for their shortcomings in battle. It seemed ironic that it was Anubis who was the first to defect, when Anubis took his 'work' as seriously as one could and remain sane. Even when they'd beaten him and thrown him in the Pit, he still tried to save them, to convince them that Talpa would share none of his power. When the time came for the final battle, and Talpa's true intentions were made, Anubis didn't throw their mistakes in their faces. He instead quietly went to battle, with a fervor that made his days as a Warlord seem effortless. He'd given his life so that they'd all survive, and here he was, tarnishing that unbelievable sacrifice with this unforgivable act? How **dare** he?!

Cale couldn't stop himself, the tears that suddenly poured from his eyes washed away by the fresh rains. A shower of droplets was flung from the blade as he swung viciously at Anubis, the gap between them closed. "WHY?!?!?!"

Without hesitation, Anubis swung, Cale's desperate question hanging in the air, cut off by the clink of chains. Effortlessly he ensared Corruption in miles of chain, tightening them mercilessly, Cale's strangled cry sounding like the sweetest of music. Stepping to the side, he pulled, the impetus of Cale's charge adding to the ferocity of the swing, as Cale flew through the air on the end of the chains that bound him, the tombstone he struck obliterated, exploding in a shower of stone. He passed through three more in that fashion as Anubis twisted, sending Cale flying in a circle, crashing headfirst into obstacle after obstacle. The wind was knocked from him, the force of the chains crushing his Armor inward, constricting tightly around him, threatening to break bone. His datchi lay useless in the mud where he'd dropped it, leaving him defenseless as Anubis reeled him in like a fish, dragging him through the slop. His vision was obscured by mud and grime, the sticky slop burning the lacerations on his face. Still though, he focused on the eyes of Anubis behind the Ogre-worked faceplate, as he was dangled like a cat by the scruff of its neck. Anubis was laughing quietly, the zeal of it all written plainly on his face. "Why, you fool? **Why? **Because I can." Turning Cale around, holding him on display for the horrified Ronins, Anubis lifted the blade of his kusari-gama, pressing the point against the bronze skin of his throat, just below his ear, ready to carve open the neck of Corruption on a whim. He noticed with a certain enjoyment that Wildfire released the grip he had on his katana, the drawn weapons of the others drooping slightly. So they didn't want to risk Cale's life, did they? Touching. "Your display brings a tear to my eye. It truely does." He leaned close to Cale, whispering in his ear. "You should be honored, see? They don't want to risk your life. Why don't you tell them to fight? Let me end your life, Cale. You'll get to see your beloved Kayura." The strangled gasp from Cale was satisfying, Anubis' brows lifting in surprise. "Oh... did they neglect to tell you? Pity. Eh well, it's more fun for me. ...I killed her, Cale. Gutted her like a fish, slowly, until she was begging for me to kill her, begging for me to end her suffering. If you like, I can kill you on the spot, and you can be with her in the afterlife... a pair of sweet ghostly lovers."

A million thoughts tumbled through his head, Cale's eyes widening. Kayura... dead...? It wasn't possible. Despite the agony of his body, every movement torture, he began to thrash, striving to break his bonds. "No... no... NO!!" His head jerked skyward, as he screamed his pain to the blackened sky. A halo of red light surrounded him, springing from the character that appeared on his forehead. All of his emotions, his physical pain, all were funnelled into his Armor. His trait was Piety, but now was not the time to be pious. His trait was for humility and respect, but he would have nothing of it. His Armor had been dipped in its element. The darkness.

The Corruption Armor screamed for slaughter. It felt the destruction, the despair radiating from its owner. The scar that marked Cale's face burned, despite the terrible chill coming from his Armor. In giving up, he had earned the wound. A wound that reminded him daily of why he had become a Warlord.

Revenge. Death. Destruction. The annihilation of all that was living.

His conciousness faded, driven away by the pains of his body and the overwhelming emotions. Betrayal, rage, anger, sorrow, anguish. His subconcious took over, his demons released. The Corruption Armor came to life through him, the thirst for blood and revenge overpowering the failsafes Cale had devised. The rain that covered him froze slowly, covering his body in delicate frost patterns, growing and multiplying, until the browns and reds of Corruption were an icy-blue. The effect multiplied, as his power surged, with nothing to hold it back, despair egging it on. Around him the grass froze, the mud, the chains.

Sage's jaw dropped. He was Cale's polar opposite, and through his Halo Armor, he could feel the outpouring of power, a flow of tremendous darkness, so cold it burned. If this madness didn't subside soon... Sage found himself screaming. "Cale! NO! STOP, CALE!"

Anubis was dumbfounded. This was not the reaction he had been planning for. Both he and Cale were covered in large lumps of ice, but Cale was not through yet. A ragged scream tore from his throat, a desperate howl, as the ice was torn apart by an explosion, bands of jagged darkness ripping it apart, consuming everything in Cale's explosion of power. The battered Warlord screamed once more, driven to this final moment, where nothing mattered more than ending it all. Something inside him tore, hurling him into the abyss, as the Corruption Armor exploded in a roar, ice and darkness consuming all, a single horriffic cry carrying above it all.

"KAAYYUUUUUURRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

When the effects of Cale's last act subsided, Anubis was gone. All that remained was the lifeless figure of Cale, lying face-first on a sheet of ice. Above him a large chunk still stood, looking like the remnant of a massive glacier. Sage was the first to react, wanting to howl with sorrow when he felt nothing from Cale, only a frayed end where the connection between his Armor and Cale's had been. Surely the others felt it, but none so strongly as Sage. They ran to the fallen Warlord, clustering around Sage, who was wrestling the heavy form over onto his back, the ice cracking as Cale was separated from it.

Disbelief painted the faces of those left standing, eyes wide in alarm, as Halo poured healing energies into the unmoving form, again and again, until Kento finally pulled him off, the blonde heaving with unshed tears and the strain of trying to heal him.

"What... happened?" Cye was on the verge of tears, shaken to his core. Where the bond had been there was only emptiness. "...is he..?"

"He gave it all. He used all of his power..." Sage managed somehow. "Cale..." The ice that covered Corruption was cracking, breaking away from his body, until Cale lay in the clothes he had worn when he'd left the Dynasty, surrounded by the icy shards that had been his Armor. Melting slowly, they pooled together, forming into the Armor orb, where the character for Piety flickered like a flame that was dying. It lay beside the body of Cale, who still stared skyward, his face frozen in a mask of torment, his bitter blue eyes lifeless, filled with frozen tears that somehow sparkled like diamonds in the poor light.

((A/N: ::GASP!:: What's happened to poor Cale? Has this cruel and demented writer killed off her second-favorite character? Say it ain't so! ...well... I ain't. You'll just have to wait for me to crank out the next chapter. I know I've neglected this fic, but well, inspriation comes and it goes, and now that it's come again, I'm gonna hold onto it for as long as possible so I can finish off this deluded and bizarre fic. BWARHAR!))


	10. Chapter IX: Forever in Debt to Your Pric...

Chapter 9: Forever in Debt to Your Priceless Advice

Oh, this hurt. Quite badly. This was the kind of pain that made falling 10 stories onto cement feel like a paper cut. With a noise that was a cross between an angry growl and a whimper, Anubis tried to roll over. It would have been an easy feat, were it not for the foot-long icicle that was embedded into his body. It was lodged into his chest, leaving a neat round hole that dripped a pink-tinged fluid. It was as if someone had taken a giant apple corer to his body. A raw wound, 6 inches deep, bloody and oozing, capped by a blue-white sheet of ice where the butt of the icicle started, the rest of it pointing straight out his back. His new Armor was rent in places where Corruption's attack had struck, where Anubis' own power was unable to deflect the blows. It felt like he had been beaten with a sledgehammer in these areas. An ordinary Black Lightning Slash delivered by Cale would have been brushed off like an unwanted fly. This attack however had been augmented, made more powerful by Cale's overflowing emotions, assisted by the flying chunks of ice. He also suspected that the frost Cale had produced firsthand had done something to weaken his new Armor, but the pain was too great to worry about that now.

It was a miracle he'd managed to escape after the initial explosion. The crumbling ice would have crushed him like an insect. Only by keeping his wits about him had he managed to teleport away to this little clearing, miles and miles away from the cemetery, to a neat little hidey-hole in a forest. He had to be somewhere on the outskirts of Edo. For a moment his mind clouded. Not Edo, Tokyo. It had been Edo in his day, when he was still just a mortal man. It had been a flyspeck of a village, eternally reeking of fish. Centuries ago, when Kyoto was still the Emperor's City, when Daimyo still ruled territorial clans, and when only the Hollanders were allowed into port with a special pass - the Japan he knew, the Japan the other Warlords remembered. Now it was romanticized, events and dates that he had lived through mulled over by historians, put into print for dutiful little Japanese boys and girls to learn about, so that they could one day grow up and write sprawling epics about brave samurai and rogue ninja. Utter nonsense.

The dull ache in his chest brought him back to the present, to reality. He'd never quite been impaled before, and he was mildly surprised to find that it wasn't a sharp searing pain like he'd expected. Instead it felt achy, like a tremendous weight was being pressed against him, making it difficult to breathe. Now he was trapped on his side, his Armor digging into his flesh in a most obnoxious way, wondering what to do about the little matter of the icicle. With his free hand he wrenched his helmet from his head, the obscene demonic thing leering up at him from where it clattered to the ground. The faceplate grinned at him hollowly, as if knowing something he didn't, a sort of private joke between the Ogre on the helmet and its maker. He scowled at it for a moment, tossing his head slightly to move the hair from his eyes.

"Oh piss off, you. I've got other things to worry about." He wriggled once more, like a fish on the end of a spear, trying to find a more suitable angle for his own comfort. For a moment he debated removing his Armor, but the fear of loosing its power made him tremble. What if the rot returned? Or, better still, what if removing it made him loose all of his power? He'd be in a real pickle then, nothing but a stinking corpse in a rain-drenched woods. Anubis snorted suddenly, aware of the humor of it all. "Me. The great Ogre, Bringer of Cruelty. Afraid of being reduced to a beetle's buffet. I suppose every undead monster has to worry about maggots now and again. I wonder if they have something for that, like a flea collar for dogs. I should ask the master about it later." He laughed to himself, swept away by his statements, reducing him to a tittering schoolgirl. Actually there wasn't much giggling going on. He was laughing hard, roaring, his head thrown back, eyes squinted shut against the fat droplets of rain that plopped from the leafy ceiling. When his little moment of levity was done, he took a great heaving breath, returning to the throb in his chest. "Yes yes..." Anubis mused aloud. He'd grown rather fond of talking to himself out loud in recent days. It seemed to lessen the new burden he'd shouldered, made the darkness seem less ominous. Now as if he were talking to the problem lodged between his ribs and lungs, just below his heart, Anubis lifted his head, until his chin was mashed against the base of his neck, the corners of his mouth turning down as he tried to get a good view of it all. "What shall we do about you, hm? Can't very well wait for you to melt. And it's not as if I'm very dexterous in this getup of mine, I'm about as flexible as a 2x4 currently. I'm not very double-jointed. That was always Sekhmet's department. Bastard was as pliable as an eel - made judo matches a living hell. He could twist out of any hold you could think of." His eyebrows drew together. There he was, dwelling on the past again, when there were matters of the present to be dealt with. "I suppose I could just shove you back out the way you came. It seems to be the most logical solution, don't you think?" He took another deep breath, preparing himself for the deed. Maneuvering himself onto his stomach as best he could, until his nose was in the leaf litter, Anubis grit his teeth and wrenched himself over.

It was agony. His organs all protested this violent extrication of their new-but-decidedly-foreign resident, and the icicle wasn't happy about it either. It ripped through his body in reverse, shredding him with pain that made his back arch until he thought he'd snap his spine. He lay there for a long moment, pinned like a grotesque insect to a collector's board, a hand's breadth of ice jutting from his chest, the rest of it still buried in his body, the point sinking into the muddy soil. When his breath stopped heaving in his lungs, he was aware of the strange hoarseness in his throat, from a ragged scream he didn't remember uttering. He screwed up his face and his courage, looking down at the meager handhold that would allow him to pull the rest of the infernal thing free. There was a bright side to it, though. At least he wasn't laying on his side, with the prongs and points on his new Armor poking backwards into his body. Grateful for this small comfort, Anubis threw his hands up, gripping the icicle, now thoroughly slimed up with blood and bits of tissue. Like committing backwards seppuku, he jerked the icicle free with one tremendous heave. Already fed up with the pain it had endured, his body could take no more. His muscles went like water, his arms falling like lead weights to his sides, and he lay there like a dead thing.

The wonderful thing about a human brain, be it dead or undead, was that it still had the ability to function while the body was incapacitated. So while his physical form lay on the forest floor, pelted with rain, his mind still operated. The delirium he'd been experiencing while still conscious, feeding him bits and pieces of the past, opened fully, releasing a wave of tucked-away memories that Anubis had no choice but to succumb to. The first thing he saw clearly was his mother, before she'd been murdered by the same band of samurai that would slaughter his village and leave him as the only survivor. She was very much alive here, smiling cheerfully, preparing a meal while a small cinnamon-haired boy clung tightly to her leg after the neighbor's oxen had gotten too close for comfort, giving Anubis an up-close-and-personal experience with just how badly ox breath smelled. It'd sent him running for cover, the terror of that giant face and wet nose looming in his vision too much to bear.

'You're such a silly little boy, Red Sparrow. Ginta wasn't going to eat you. He's just an old ox.'

Red... Sparrow? Ah. His mother's pet name for him as a child. In three days she'd be dead, and he'd be tucked between a saddle and a samurai as another Daimyo came through on the heels of his rival. He'd take pity on silly little Red Sparrow, and bring the boy along as a playmate for his own son and daughter. By the time Red Sparrow was 16 he'd be in his last year of training, preparing for war against the same Daimyo who'd killed his mother. The old Daimyo who brought him up may have become a doddering old man, and may have been a compassionate father figure, but there was no mistaking his desire for power. Red Sparrow would grow up believing that with power came invincibility, and strength to control anything, even one's own destiny. He'd ride out to war, kill, sate his need for revenge, and continue on his search for power. He'd never be afraid again. Red Sparrow would die that day, and a newer, stronger man would rise. Little did he know that greater things were to happen that day. Talpa would sweep down and collect him, make him the head of his Demon Warlords, give him strength that he never would have been able to attain if he'd refused the offer. And for a short while, he did have that glorious power. He was the master of Cruelty.

_He was a pawn._

Or at least, that was what the old man had said. That ancient monk had filled his head with thoughts of dissent and betrayal, or at least that's what he'd initially thought. The quiet whisperings of the Ancient were truths, opening his eyes to what Talpa really intended to do with them once the war with the Ronins was over. It was his old desire for strength that pushed him over the edge, to take that one last step and do the unthinkable - to become a traitor and renounce the power Talpa had bestowed upon him.

After Talpa's first resounding defeat, the Ancient one took him into ghostly tutelage, teaching him the way of the fallen Clan and the power within the staff he'd been given. _It was never given to you, the power of the Ogre Armor,_ the voice whispered. _It came from inside you, drew out your inner strengths. It is a physical manifestation of your fears of being weak. You were afraid, petrified, of the very _thought_ of being powerless. That was why you clove to the old Daimyo. He had power, wisdom, strength. The things you needed to overcome your fears. At least, that was what you believed. What was the trait I unmasked for you the day we first met? Loyalty. You perhaps do not realize it, Anubis, but you are fiercely loyal, blindly so. You stayed with the Daimyo because he rescued you, took you in. Not because you needed him. Your loyalties to Talpa follow in the same vein. That was why I chose you, Anubis. For your faith, your loyalty. Once that seed, that tiny truth, was planted in your brain, that unwavering alliance to Talpa would be severed. I knew you would be the one I could entrust with my powers. Now, Anubis, prove to me how strong your loyalty is..._

Blind loyalty. That was what got him into this predicament. The monk used him, used his own trait against him, knowing full well that Anubis wouldn't dare sway from his duties, no matter what would happen. What he mistook in his foolish pride as gentle advice were really commands, no different from the commands Talpa would issue. _You belong to me, child. You will do my bidding, without hesitation, without doubt, without regret. And when I have no further need of you, your final act of loyalty to me is your death. Pass on the power you held for a time, give it to my true heir. You were never my chosen one, Anubis. Merely a tool to be used and discarded when your usefulness is spent._

From his soggy bed of moldy leaves, Anubis twisted, his teeth bared in a snarl of defiance. "You lied to me, old man! You're no better than Talpa! I make my own destiny, monk! I know the paths I take! I was foolish to think you were different! My loyalty is to myself!"

Like a ray of sunlight piercing the heavy black clouds, a new idea, a new truth, manifested in the back of Anubis' brain. That one sentence uttered so long ago struck a new chord within him. _You perhaps do not realize it, Anubis, but you are fiercely loyal, blindly so. _Talpa had used it against him, the Ancient had done so as well. Was his new master doing the same?

A hairline crack in Anubis' iron beliefs appeared, tiny and hardly noticeable. Yet like a crack in stone, no matter how small, with the right combination of rain and time, can rend the stone into tiny fragments. It was through this smallest of splits that another force entered, hoping to severe this bond of loyalty. The questions tumbling through Anubis's head, one after the other, nagging disbeliefs and dreaded wonderment, were all answered in one spiritual tone.

_Yes. You are. You're being used._

Like a bucket of water being dumped on him, Anubis suddenly shot up at the waist, like someone who has just woken from a long and terrible dream. The voice that rang in his head was unmistakable. It was the Ancient. Like a child who hears a familiar voice in a new and scary place, Anubis' eyes filled with wonder. "...Ancient?"

_Indeed, it is I, old friend. You'd thought I'd abandoned you?_

"I couldn't help but think... after I freed Kayura from Bademon's control... that... that..."

I know what you thought, Anubis. You are wrong. Most certainly wrong. The misconceptions you developed about my intentions for you are untrue. I never used you like Talpa. I never forced you to end your life to save her. That was your own doing, your own final sacrifice, the moment in which you realized that the world did not revolve around you. You may have been the Ogre, the leader of Talpa's Warlords. You may have been my Chosen Pupil. But you realized then, while Bademon possessed Kayura, that you were still just a man. A man is always a small part in something greater, Anubis. A thread in a pattern, the leaf of a tree. In realizing that, you realized that it was your destiny, your part in the pattern, to save Kayura. Yet in doing so, you were no longer just a man_. You became a hero, a pivotal turning point in that long war against evil. You used your power for the greater good._

This epiphany left Anubis dumbfounded. He was awake, however, his consciousness active, and that roiling hate spawned inside of him returned with full force. The voice on the other end was silent, as a newer, more malevolent presence flooded in, striking Anubis with such a force that he was knocked backwards. Another familiar feeling overtook him, only this was not that kindly warmth that accompanied the monk. This was the searing heat that he'd felt when being punished by Talpa, and it left him bucking wildly on the ground, his heels kicking up great hunks of earth, his hands curled into claws, his head tossed back and forth on his neck like a man struck with seizures.

**"Did we enjoy that little speech from the monk, hm? Did he try to turn you against me?! More of his honeyed poison, his little ideas about destiny and truth? I rescue you from your torment and this his how you repay me?! Reverting back to an impressionable child, listening dutifully while he fills your head with more of his tales?! Remember this, Anubis. You are mine! I gave you life so that you could revenge yourself! I will not tolerate disobedience!" **The voice that had spoken to him in the graveyard had been gentle, a snake sliding through the grass. This was booming, roaring like a dragon, making his blood boil and his body ache. Anubis wasn't given time to respond, to defend himself, the pain made him do only one thing - scream. Scream until he thought his throat would rupture. Abruptly it stopped, the sudden jarring lack of pain seeming to hurt, leaving him curled into a ball, heaving ragged sobs, his head clutched in his hands, as if trying to seal it off from that terrible howling voice. There had been more to it, more than the physical words he'd heard. It was as if a madness had been loosed inside his head, millions of tiny demons clawing at his brain, punishment for even listening to the Ancient.

Finally, when the sobs abated, and Anubis dare lift his head from the ground, he lay there, half sprawled on the ground, drawing shuddering breaths, trying to shake off the horrors the master had inflicted. He dared not reach out to see if the Ancient was still there, if he'd watched with invisible eyes what Anubis had just been subjected to. His master would lash out at him again, and if he felt that even once more... Moving, hoping that would help him forget, he sat up further. The hole in his chest had been mended, but he could still feel the soreness of it all, and didn't need to remove his Armor to see that there would be a scar. The rain pattered softly around him, helping to soothe him, washing the grime away from his rest in the dirt. He needed to stand, to see if his knees still shook as badly as the rest of him. He turned to his helmet, as it stared forlornly back at him. He was reaching for it when a mental connection struck him again. Anubis nearly cried out, thinking it was his master, back for another round of punishment. Heart thudding in his chest, he would have liked to scream in despair when he realized it was the Ancient. Only instead of using a link that his master could have detected, it was as if the Ancient spoke to him through the helmet. It didn't move a hair, but the voice that came from it was clear and soft.

_You know what you really are, Anubis. ...that's why you couldn't bring yourself to kill Kayura._

(A/N: For those playing the home game, **SOMETHING **just happened. DundunDDDUUUNNN!!!! ::dramatic chord:: One quick note - the bits about Anubis' past were all made up. A bit of creative license on my part, if you will. And the chapter title is from a line from the Nirvana song 'Heart-Shaped Box'. Heard it on the radio this afternoon, and that lyric inspired me to write this chapter. I have a feeling this is gonna end soon, so stay tuned! Same Ronin Time, Same Ronin Channel!)


End file.
